Between 1941 and 1945 more than 110,000 American marines, soldiers, airmen, and sailors were taken prisoner by German, Italian, and Japanese forces. Long hours of inactivity or slave labor were followed by moments of sheer terror. Gunner Bob Michelsen bailed out of his crippled B-29 near Tokyo, only to endure days of interrogation and beatings and months as a "special prisoner" in a tiny cell with 17 other Americans. Medic Richard Ritchie huddled with dozens of other men, locked in an unmarked boxcar that was repeatedly strafed by Allied forces. Historian Thomas Saylor pieces together the stories of nearly one hundred World War II POWs to explore what it was like to be the "guest" of the Axis Powers, and how they managed to survive. Some speak of their difficult transition to life back home, and some were never able to put their experience behind them.